Researchers have identified a location on a map. They claim it is a “flying Chernobyl”

According to Reuters, American researchers have pinpointed the probable location of the 9M730 Burevestnik. This is a nuclear-powered weapon that is supposed to be able to reach any place on Earth within 2,000 km. Vladimir Putin touted the alleged capabilities of the “flying Chernobyl” several years ago, although he claimed that Burevestnik has “unlimited range.”

Satellite images of Russia were taken at the end of July by Planet Labs, a company that regularly images the entire Earth to monitor ongoing changes and predict trends. The photographs show facilities under construction, with a warehouse of nuclear warheads nearby. The town of Chebsara, where Burevestnik was discovered, is 475 km north of Moscow.

9 positions. Nearby storage facilities with nuclear warheads

Decker Eveleth, an analyst at the National Security Analysis research organization, believes that the photos show a total of nine launch sites that are still being formed and built. They are spaced apart and grouped in groups of three, and surrounded by embankments so that no one can attack or detonate them. The earth embankments are connected to nearby buildings, where missiles are probably serviced and to storage facilities where nuclear warheads are stored. This area is designated “for a large stationary missile system,” Eveleth believes.

Another researcher, Jeffrey Lewis – from the Middlebury Institute of International Studies – confirms what his predecessor indicated. He added that the location where the weapon was decided to be placed may mean that Russia is starting to implement a military project, after conducting earlier tests that have taken place over the past years (according to the Nuclear Threat Initiative – an organization that deals with, among other things, nuclear security – the Russians have conducted 13 tests in the past within 24 months, but as many as 11 of them ended in failure).

Hans Christensen of the Federation of American Scientists has a slightly different opinion, pointing out that these may be launchers and other elements related to Burevestnik, but the Russians would rather not place a missile launcher near a nuclear warhead storage facility.

The Kremlin has so far declined to comment.

Putin claimed that the Russians’ new weapon has allegedly “unlimited range”

In 2018, the Russian Defense Ministry showed off the missile’s capabilities by publishing videos of one of its tests. Putin emphasized that it is nearly undetectable and has “virtually unlimited range.” UNN recalls that he also advertised it as a supposedly “indestructible” weapon.

Ukrainian National News (UNN) reminds us that Burevestnik is commonly called the “flying Chernobyl”. This name refers to the nuclear disaster of 1986, when the reactor core overheated and exploded, and then radioactive substances were released. An area of ​​125-146 thousand square kilometers was contaminated. The same thing, although not necessarily on such a scale, happens when a missile hits the ground.

NATO plans to put more nuclear weapons on alert

In this context, UNN recalls an article by the British daily The Telegraph, which reported that NATO wants to put more nuclear weapons on alert and increase the transparency of its nuclear arsenal in order to dissuade China and Russia from the possible use of nuclear warheads, among other things.